Christopher Boys, Ph.D, L.P.

Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Pediatric Neuropsychologist -

University of Minnesota Health

Dr. Boys is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics.  He is a Pediatric Neuropsychologist who completed his PhD in Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota.  He also completed his clinical internship and post-doctoral fellowship in Pediatric Neuropsychology, as well as a post-doctoral fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

He is currently the Director of the Pediatric Psychology Program at the University of Minnesota.  He has worked with T1D since 2004 and has focused on adaptation to chronic disease and reducing barriers to treatment adherence, particularly in T1D.

Research interests include:  establishing a neurocognitive profile for FASD, neurodevelopmental outcome of high risk and premature neonates; investigating the neuropsychological profile of early and continuously treated phenylketonuria (PKU);

.

Kady Helme

Mission Manager

- JDRF

Kady Helme was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was five years old.  Her family initially became involved with JDRF by forming a family Walk team, Kady’s Krusaders, in 1997.  From 1999-2011, she was a JDRF National Youth Ambassador and spoke to companies such as AON, Discover, and Welsh Oil to encourage them to build corporate Walk teams.  Kady has experience speaking at a variety of JDRF events such as Walk kick offs, Galas, Person of the Year dinners and major donor events, among others. She has promoted JDRF through appearances and interviews with local and national TV, radio, and newspaper outlets, such as the Today Show and Good Morning America.

Kady’s first trip to “storm the hill” in Washington D.C. was in 2000 when she lobbied her Illinois congressmen. In 2005, Kady returned as a member of Children’s Congress where she met with then Illinois Senator Barak Obama to discuss funding of type 1 diabetes research.

Kady has also had extensive T1D research trial experience.  In 2006, she participated in her first closed-loop trial at Yale University Hospital, which she later repeated in 2010.  She has also participated in trials testing Victoza and PET beta-cell imaging. In fall 2014, Kady participated in a JDRF funded closed-loop “in-hotel” artificial pancreas trial. She is currently participating in a “real world, out-of-hospital” artificial pancreas trial that she began in December 2015.

Working as part of the JDRF National Mission Department, Kady manages TypeOneNation summit events and the PEAK program. Kady is comfortable speaking for JDRF events on topics such as advocacy, fundraising, diabetes management (she uses a CGM and insulin pump) and the clinical trial experience.

Brandon Nathan, MD

Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Pediatric Endocrinologist -

University of Minnesota Health

Dr. Brandon Nathan is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the division of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Minnesota where he has been on faculty for the past 10 years.  Dr. Nathan completed his undergraduate studies at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO and received his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, NH.  He trained in Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin where he also served as chief resident.  Dr. Nathan then completed a fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, OH.  His clinical time is split between the Fairview Ridges Campus in Burnsville and the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis.  Dr. Nathan is an active investigator in Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet, the Type 1 Diabetes Exchange, and the Minnesota Pediatric Obesity Consortium.  His current research interests include improving our ability to detect at-risk individuals and preventing diabetes from occurring in this population

Jennifer McVean, MD

Pediatric Endocrinology - University of Minnesota Health

Dr. McVean grew up in Plymouth, Minnesota and graduated from Wayzata High School.  After completing her undergraduate work at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, she returned to complete her Medical Degree at the University of Minnesota in 2002.  She completed a pediatric residency at the University of Colorado and a Pediatric Endocrinology fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  After spending the first 5 years of her career in clinical practice in Wisconsin, she returned to Minnesota and enjoys seeing patients with Type 1 Diabetes at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital and at the Maple Grove and Woodbury clinics.

In her free time, she is a busy wife and mother of 3 wonderful children!  Dr. McVean was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 11.

Lauren Plunkett, RDN, LD

Registered Dietitian - Children’s Minnesota

Owner at LP Nutrition Consulting LLC

Lauren was diagnosed with T1D when she was 11 years old, and like many people new to diabetes, she struggled to perfect her diet, physical activity, and insulin management. However, she built a foundation of values based on responsibility and independence. Her ambitions have taken her all over the country in pursuit of education and life experiences. Above all adventures throughout the years she found the greatest value in the consistent effort to live a healthy lifestyle.

In pursuit of a degree in dietetics, she vowed to never forget what it felt like to be the patient. While learning the tremendous science of nutrition she found that her diabetes management was improving, and realized that healthy eating with consistent exercise had made an enormous impact.

Today she is a Registered Dietitian at Children’s Minnesota and a Certified Diabetes Educator. Her personal experience coupled with expertise as a nutrition educator bridges the gap between patient and professional. She takes personal responsibility in her role, and hopes to show people of all ages living with T1D that they can be healthy, achieve their goals, and can seize the day just as well as anybody, if not better.

Shannon Beasley, NP

Nurse Practitioner -

Park Nicollet International Diabetes Center

Shannon Beasley is a Nurse Practitioner for the Park Nicollet Pediatric Endocrine program.  Over the past 14 years, she has had the opportunity to work as a pediatric diabetes educator for several University and private programs both near and far.   She is highly knowledgeable regarding diabetes technology and is currently working on several research projects for the International Diabetes Center.  Shannon has been an active member within the diabetes community volunteering at Camp Needlepoint and serving on the Minneapolis/St. Paul Diabetes Educator Board.

Heather Lage, RN, CDE

Pediatric Diabetes Educator - University of Minnesota Health

Heather Lage has degrees in both Social Work and Nursing.  She grew up in North Dakota, and moved to the Twin Cities in 1998 where she has been working as an RN,CDE  for the past 11 years.  Heather currently sees patients at the MHealth Pediatric Specialty Clinic in Maple Grove.

Heather has been actively involved in the diabetes community by volunteering at JDRF events, Camp Needlepoint and developing programs for support and education at both Children’s and the University of Minnesota.

Heather’s daughter was diagnosed with T1D in 2015 at the age of 10.  She also has a 15 year old son who is antibody positive in the TrialNet study where they are actively working to prevent/delay his diabetes.